X-Men: Days of Future Past brings back Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen

With box office records broken by movies like The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises and a slate of even more superhero movies coming like Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel in 2013, it’s time to face facts: The Golden Age of superhero flicks is over. We are now into the Silver Age, that period of refinement and invention. The movies from that naïve era of the early ’00s are now officially old school. The franchises like Spider-man and X-Men have already been successfully rebooted! That doesn’t mean there isn’t still room for some of the old in the new school, though. The cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past will have cast alums from both First Class and the decade-old franchise.

Director Bryan Singer confirmed via Twitter on Tuesday that Ian McKellen would play Erik “Magneto” Lensher opposite Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier in the new movie. The elder mutant leaders will appear alongside their younger counterparts as Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy will return as Magneto and Professor X respectively as well.